Principles of Harmony and Contrast
by Ninja Liz-San
Summary: Sasuke is confused by Itachi's choicies and still they attempt to act like brothers...[fluff & drabble & stuff]


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Disclaimer: No, I don't own Naruto. If I did, it wouldn't be on Cartoon Network, Ino would be dead and Lee wouldn't wear that hideous spandex that is oh-so-wrong…**

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"_Without relationships, a person is at their most vulnerable."_

Itachi could remember hearing that from somewhere, that statement defying everything else he had ever been instructed. It bothered him, this contradiction of ideas. The seed of doubt that had taken root caused Itachi's disconcertion to grow, with the knowledge that his entire life so car had been lived contrary to this, and that he really had become miserable – vulnerable, even.

His mind snapped back to his surroundings. He had stopped, Itachi realized, in the middle of the street. Inquiring glances pierced him as he gazed, disorientated, at the red and white emblems adorning the Uchiha compound. A blank stare returning to his face, Itachi silently made his way back towards his family's residence. The watchers just shook their heads at the young Uchiha prodigy, not even feeling the need to comment on his erratic behavior. After all, it was widely accepted that such pressure on one so young was certain to cause some degree of imbalance.

Before Itachi could make his way much farther along the road, he heard fast yet regular footfalls growing louder and louder. Stopping once more, steeling himself, he waited. As he had mentally predicted, something latched on to him from behind.

"Sasuke." he spoke tonelessly.

"Itachi-nii-san!"

"I'm busy, baka otouto." Apparently Sasuke had missed the meaning behind the emotionless façade.

"Mou, aniki!" Sasuke pouted, as Itachi attempted to walk away still hindered by the small child clinging to him.

The words that had sprung forward unbidden just a short time ago appeared in his consciousness again. He relented. It couldn't hurt to try, he justified to himself, and it is only Sasuke-chan in any case.

"Come. Sasuke." He said, roughly pulling his otouto behind him as he walked.

"Mou, aniki." Sasuke pouted, "Where are we going?"

Itachi remained silent. In all honesty, Itachi himself was unsure of where he was heading. Not home, he thought decisively. He knew the atmosphere between him and his father had been tense recently, and as a consequence, Itachi wanted to spend as little time at home as possible.

Noticing Sasuke faltering, trying with his short stride to maintain the same pace as his aniki, he tugged sharply on the small hand he has a hold of. Sasuke stumbled, and yet somehow still managed to stay balanced. He could not, however, hold back his surprised cry, and as soon as it had escaped his mouth he hated himself, knowing that his cry would elicit an angry response from Itachi. For the first time that Sasuke could remember, no rebuke came from his older brother.

Sasuke looked up at his brother, confused.

"Aniki?"

No response came.

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The houses of the Uchiha compound faded away. Without realizing it, Itachi had lead his otouto to the secluded lake at which Itachi had first learned the Katon: Goyaku no Jutsu, completing the passage into manhood. Itachi looked over at his otouto – the child was already chasing fish in the shallows of the lake. Six years old, Itachi mused, his otouto had lived as an Uchiha for six years and still managed to cling to that frail illusion that is childhood. Itachi knew that when he was Sasuke's age, he was being pushed into his final year at the Academy, with children twice his age or older.

Their lives contrasted as starkly as black and white, each standing in defiance of the other, and yet the two brothers had an unspoken connection stronger than superficial things like proximity. They were brothers in such a way that one could not exist without the other, each an eternal rival of the other. They needed each other to survive, to have their lives hold any meaning. Sasuke not only needed Itachi, he could tell in his simple and childish way that somehow – deep inside – his aniki needed him too.

A thought crossed Itachi's mind, one that he had never encountered before.

Just for an instant the illusion of a smile crossed his face.

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A/N – I have a plotline for this, if you can believe it… I may add more later, depending on whether or not I think it is completely crap or not… 


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